Richard E. Johnson – Primary Encounters

The metaphor is a useful ancillary mode, but primary encounters demand much more than such partial participation. They demand direct and complete involvement by both participants. They demand a risk and a commitment more critical than metaphor experience can provide. A primary encounter must be a personal communication which comes to life in the moment and endures beyond it. An encounter which would not make a relationship vital in the lived world beyond the moment is not an authentic encounter. Only such genuine commitment by both participants can make a relationship real. All else is doomed to the failure inherent in any dishonest venture.